Choices
by JJSlay
Summary: Everyone makes thousands of choices a day. Each one with varying importance, but usually pretty unimportant right? Watch as decisions made thousands of years before Zootopia existed continue to shape the future. {BEWARE: Human in Zootopia} Be as rough as possible on reviewing. [NickxJudy] and maybe [OCxOC] Rated M for violence and sexual themes. Slice O' Life eventually too.
1. Chapter 1

**{Author's Note}**

 **So hi, thanks for clicking the story, as I said in the summary this is my first story AND it currently unedited, so expect some mistakes in grammer, spelling, and other such things.**

 **Plans for this have been lain out up to about 120,000 words, but could be longer, could be shorter.**

 **I will answer all questions in the next chapter.**

 **I just spat this out on the page in 2 hours of feverish typing and it is now 5 am, I just had to get this idea out of my brain. I hope you find it as good as I did.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **[Edit 1/28/17] Just fixed up a few misspelling and made sure everything lined up story wise, will do a full edit tomorrow after work.**

 **[Edit 2/1/17] Wow, okay so, complete re-write of almost all dialog, tons of grammatical errors and punctuation fixes. Few other major and minor plot changes. Your best bet is to just re-read the entire chapter, sorry!  
**

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In a lonely solar system, a massive, ship suddenly blinked into view. A blue and green mottled core was nestled between two sleek, silver branches, coming to form the shape of an eye. "Bioship #001: _Temperate Lands_ , read along the sides in blocky white lettering. Sitting at 500 kilometers long, 160 kilometers tall and wide, the _Temperate Lands_ was one of the largest research craft the galaxy had seen to date. The two-dimensional eye glowed white in the rising sun, as slowly drifted from the dark side, to the light side of the glittering blue and green planet ahead. On the dark side of the planet, veins of light from large cities could be seen everywhere. A very similar looking planetoid spun lazily in what would be the iris of the massive craft, while a clear shield like surface formed the iris itself, protecting the planetoid the craft seemed to almost cradle.

Within the bridge of the _Temperate Lands_ sat a single man, the captain. His eyes focused on the blue lightly glowing screen ahead of him in the otherwise dim room. He sat with his back hunched forward in his seat, hands clenched in a steeple in front of him, and his foot tapped away at the floor.

An impossible decision was to be made, and his time to decide was quickly running out. The screen indicated twelve large objects quickly approaching the system, specifically the planet that lay just below.

"What am I supposed to do?" Eyeing the estimated arrival timer left him even deeper in panic "Only 10 minutes to decide…"

The man appeared to be in his late twenties, and had an average body and build. A dusting of brown hair on his head, and face. His slightly angular jaw was clenched, with his mouth stuck in a grim line. His light eyes searched around the screens in front of him. The comfortable-looking long sleeve shirt and pants he wore, hung loosely around his frame, slightly too large.

He quickly stood, and walked around the console in front of him, to stand in front of the large window. He stared out at the planet just waking up for the day, his hands coming to rub at his eyes, as if to make an answer to his question appear.

"Heh, wonder what they're thinkin down there now that they've spotted the BTL." A small grin formed on his bearded face as his hands folded in front of him.

"21 billion intelligent souls down there…" Just as quick as it had come, the smile fell off the captain's face at the reminder of the impending decision.

"22.24 billion as of the last scan, actually Amicus." Said a synthetic voice from the small ear bud on his right.

"Wow thanks Jax, that certainly makes it easier on me." Amicus's voice said dripping sarcasm.

Jax, the AI that had been with Amicus since the beginning. Jax was the one constant in Amicus's long life, and if asked, Amicus would say without hesitation Jax was his best friend, though his only friend for too long to mention. Though the mental health effects of only having a simulacrum of a human around for so long remained to be seen.

"I aim to please." Either missing the sarcasm or ignoring it, Jax replied, sounding extremely pleased with himself.

"Would you like me to attempt to establish a comm-link with them again?"

"Sure, sure… They'll probably ignore it like the last 100 or so tries." He flippantly waved off the unseen AI, turning again to frown at the planet peacefully rotating planet below.

How had it all gone so wrong? Just a few years ago the human empire spanned the entire galaxy, nearing 1 trillion souls strong.

He thrusted his hands once again to his face and gripping at his hair as he continued to remember, the implant in his brain silently transmitting the data from the ship's networks.

The plague happened, that's what.

Tears began to well up in Amicus's eyes.

The disease started in silence. He still had never found where it came from, beyond it being a designer disease, probably made by a terrorist group. It had mutated beyond anything anyone could have ever intended. Entire planets would fall silent in a matter of hours. Hell, they couldn't even detect the thing until The Empire's population had fallen to just 10 billion. As it turned out, it hid out as the common fucking cold, something literally every human in the galaxy had in their body.

It would infect an entire a planet, be spread through every possible medium; air, water, contact, blood. Then, almost all at once, as though someone had flipped a switch, it struck. First taking down the immune system of the human host, leaving it free to wreak havoc. Anything it could infect and destroy it did. The infected lasted only minutes once this process started, seeming to "rot in front of you" one hysterical survivor screamed.

In just 300 years, less than a sliver of the average human lifespan, The Empire lay abandoned; skeletal abandoned worlds still infected with the disease lay quarantined by automated drone ships, and stations. The planetary shielding leaving the once lively planets as tombs. Only a Senate majority order could unlock these tomb worlds. Given that the Senate no longer exists there is little chance of accessing the infected worlds.

Amicus, using his considerable skill in biology, and microtech, had found that by having nanites tweak a few genes that controlled the formation of immune cells, forcing them into unique, but functional shapes, that the disease could no longer destroy the immune system. No longer kill.

His hands fell listlessly to his sides, empty eyes still staring at the planet below.

In his state, Amicus missed Jax telling him only 8 minutes remained.

But it was too late. The population of humanity rested at an estimated 300 thousand; various pockets of people that were off planets, in secure sterile facilities, and so on to reach out to one another.

His first contact with survivors was with the colony ship of Helios. He came to offer the cure in person, as, being the stubborn humans they were, refused to believe Amicus had defeated the disease, without proof. The people of the Helios assumed that if Amicus was still alive after all this time, he couldn't be diseased, so they trusted him that much at least.

Placing his hands above his head against the glass to support himself, and clenching his eyes shut Amicus barely stood as the emotions hit him. Tears began to fall.

They were wrong.

In his state, he missed the voice of Jax informing him just 4 minutes until contact.

Amicus, while not affected by the Plague, was still a carrier. Just five minutes into his visit, the entire ship had become infected. The cure was designed to rebuild the human immune system in a new form that was able to resist the disease, but it took time. He had tried to apply the cure to those nearest him as panic engulfed the Helios. Too little too late, Amicus was forced to watch as the disease made people decay before his very eyes. The entire population of Helios was silenced just a few minutes after he arrived. His thoughtless actions had reduced the survivor count to just 100 thousand humans.

The captain began to sob.

If only he had been faster in creating the cure.

If only he had thought before he acted.

If only.

'At least it only affected humans,' He thought grimly, standing up after a moment, wiping his bloodshot eyes on his sleeve. Glancing once again towards the planet below, peacefully turning unaware of what was coming.

"Captain sir. They've answered." Jax suddenly said over the com-link.

Running back to the comms screen, Amicus laid eyes on the first human he had seen since the tragedy. The man appeared to be just past the prime of his youth, though his stone cold eyes told of a man who had seen many battles. His attire was that of a decorated soldier.

"This is Admiral Briggs, of the Last Remnant Fleet. Please identify yourself survivor."

Ah yes, Admiral Briggs, the hero of the last clone wars, and the one responsible for the genocide of all surviving clones.

A flare of anger was easily formed at the thoughts.

As well as a staunch supporter of the blacklisting of all types of cloning, it was the last of the "old technologies" to be blacklisted. He was easily able to use his fame from the war to sway The Empire's leaders into nearly anything he wished, for a time at least.

'But that was a almost 1000 years ago. He must be more reasonable now right?' Amicus thought, panic now returning in full force and mixing with the anger.

"Greetings Admiral, my name is Amicus. I am a researcher licensed by The Empire. You and your fleet are on course for my system. Might I ask what you intend to do here?" Only a slight waver betrayed his true feelings at the moment.

While not technically a lie, he had stretched the truth. Once upon a time, he was a licensed researcher, but the license had _long_ since expired, and had not any official contact with The Empire in thousands of years

"You there! Find everything we have on the Imperial Researcher, Amicus!" Briggs yelled to someone off-screen. The admiral then sat back slightly in his own seat, looking much more collected than Amicus felt.

"We were unaware that this system was in anyone's possession, let alone that they still lived... As you might be aware, most of The Empire has fallen,"

Amicus felt pain spike in his heart at the casual mention of his greatest failure, only adding to the maelstrom of emotions.

"And as far as we have been able to ascertain, we are all that remain. Yours is the only transmission we have received, though, I must apologize for not answering your call sooner. We almost missed it as you had been broadcasting on a decommissioned frequency."

"It's no issue, I have been out of contact with The Empire for some time now…"

"Sir, this is everything we have on this Amicus... I had to pull most of it out of The Empire Archives, though." Someone off-screen handed the admiral a data pad.

The admiral's eyebrows rose at this. The archives only contained information 10,000 years or older.

"Give it here!"

As the admiral read through the report, Amicus's mind was running a million miles a second, trying to figure some way out of what the man was about to discover.

"6 minutes until contact." Jax informed.

'Oh god! they'll know, they'll know!' His panicked thoughts began to blur.

"...This... this can't be right! It says you were there at The Empire's founding, nearly 60,000 years ago! No human can live that long!"

'No no no nono-' Amicus's panicked thoughts continued to blend together further.

Growing more and more angry as he read further, Amicus's mind had ground to a halt; his entire long past flashing through his mind.

"...Nanites, cloning, cybernetics, _synthetic life_!" The admiral's face flushed red with anger "This is nearly every piece of tech The Empire ever blacklisted!"

"I ca-" Amicus started, but was almost instantly interrupted by the now incensed admiral.

Gasps of those on the bridge with Briggs could be heard as he listed off each and every crime The Empire had lain on Amicus.

"This monster defiled every law, value, and tradition we have ever stood for, and you dare to pretend to be him?!" Now attempting to look directly into Amicus's eyes searching for truth.

"I really am-" Amicus tried to defend himself again.

"It says _right here_ he was _thrown_ into a _black hole_ for his crimes against humanity in 3054. There is absolutely no way to come back from that!" Each word spoken with such rage behind them it was a wonder the Admiral could speak them all.

"Now who are you really?" The grizzled war veteran interrogated, attempting to catch Amicus's downcast eyes.

"I am the one with a cure for the Plague."

Despite his psyche falling apart he continued.

" _Everything_ I have done, has been with the intent of creating a better future for all," He said, eyes slightly crazed, as though he was a wild animal that had been cornered.

"4 minutes until contact." Jax updated.

While the admiral fell into thought, Amicus couldn't help but remember what the he had brought up, his implant silently providing the information from his neural network.

Nanites running rouge, killing millions. Cybernetics being used to enslave entire planets under tyrants. The clone wars. All of it was made with the intention of helping people.

Nanites to help keep people healthy, allowing everyone and anyone to create and deconstruct things at will! They'll keep you healthier, boost your immune system, let you edit your genes on the fly! Until the tiny self-replicating robots escaped control, and began replicating out of control, consuming anything they could reach to continue to reproduce. Strike one against Amicus, in The Empire's eyes. He was never even given the chance to correct his mistake. All use outlawed in fear of repeat incidents.

Cybernetics to allow everyone to think and act at the speed of a computer! Robotic limbs, organs and an incredible amount of entertainment opportunities! Until one hacker had realized they could be hijacked, and used to control the user. It took the better part of 1500 years to free everyone affected from the control, and usage of their cybernetics. Strike two. Again, not even given a chance to correct himself beyond freeing people.

'At least strike three was worth it.' Amicus thought with a small smile, despite the dire situation.

The general suddenly spoke. Though no longer hostile, his voice still betrayed his skepti

"A cure? How could you have done what our scientists could not do in 300 years? Although..." He trailed off, quickly glancing at the data pad once more, glancing over the list of banned tech, "if you _are_ in fact Amicus, I could almost believe it." The general suddenly spoke. Though no longer hostile, his voice still betrayed his doubts.

A small bubble of hope had began to form deep inside the whirlwind in his psyche, and the voice in his mind cheered at the possibility for a peaceful resolution. A sudden realization had nearly popped the bubble.

"That's wonderful! I'll begin prepping the doses to be distributed. However, you never answered my question of _why_ you came here of all places."

The Sol system, as well as the rest of the "local fluff" cluster should just read out to any scanner as a strip-mined wasteland, of an area from the early Empire, with little to nothing of interest or value. In fact, the massive hydrogen gas clouds _should_ have muddled sensors enough that it would be dangerous for their unequipped ships to travel to the ancestral home of the humans. Even more so given that Amicus had always ionized the massive gas clouds, making them even more dangerous.

"As I'm sure you're aware, Sol is the home system of our people. What better place to take refuge?" He gestured out as though it was the most obvious thing.

"And as I'm sure you're aware, since the Senate has fallen, along with any other government structure, all other habitable worlds we know of are tombs." He said, his mouth forming a grave line.

"Why would the Senate order such a thing?" Amicus's face a mask of confusion, stress gone now that the danger had passed.

"2 minutes till contact." Jax said, using the lull in the conversation to keep Amicus updated.

" It was a knee jerk reaction. They, along with everyone else were scared. They died out before the order could be rescinded, so the AI continued to carry it out until no planets remained unsealed in Empire Space."

A bit of disgust showed on Briggs's face before he continued

"It's a shame, really, the disease being just a virus means it would have been easily possible to sterilize a planet, and resettle there. All those planets, forever locked away…" He trailed off looking at something off-screen.

"WHAT-" Briggs suddenly yelled, before moving quickly off-screen.

While Briggs ran off-screen, Amicus began thinking of what the future might hold now for him, now that he could finally pay off his debt to humanity.

'If they have a terraformer ship, I could have Venus pulled a little further from the sun, and they could transform the planet quickly with my help…' Amicus thought to himself.

His thoughts were brought to a screeching halt as Admiral Briggs came crashing back into view of the comms screen, like some sort of bull.

"HA HA ha.. You almost had us, you snake! Had we not found mention of you in Helios's comm logs, you _would_ have had us!"

"What do you me-" Amicus's face showed only pure horror and self loathing, as his implant reminded him of the events behind the name Helios.

'No it was an accident.'

"Amicus, the Bane of Humanity. That was your "posthumously" awarded title. But I'm sure you know that, don't you." The Admiral sneered at the gobsmacked look on the younger-looking man's face.

Amicus was unable to speak, as he watched his hopes die at the hands his own mistakes once again.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the entire plague was created by you, you monster! "

'No, no, no, no, no, no I didn't do it' Amicus's inner voice cried with grief.

"Enough, cut the comms, I'm done with this filth. We can destroy him, and sterilize Earth as plan-"

"NO!"

Amicus had found his voice with the scream.

"You can't do that! There's billions of lives down there, _intelligent lives!_ " Amicus was now openly crying, and begging.

But the comm-link had already closed.

He collapsed to the captain's seat, tears flowing silently.

The decision had been made for him.

"Contact: 1 colony ship, 4 Empire destroyers, 6 Empire cruisers, 1 Empire dreadnought spotted 2000 kilometers off starboard bow!" Jax exclaimed fearfully.

Amicus still stared where the Admiral's face had been.

"Amicus you must do something! The enemy has begun targeting The _Temperate Lands_!" Jax shouted at the unresponsive man.

'Enemy…' The word passed through Amicus's head, shaking from him the state that the rapid reversal had left him in.

Gazing out at the enemy he nearly laughed. The massive colony ship, which sat at 100 kilometers long, was dwarfed by the nearly 800 kilometer long military dreadnought that filled the void in front of him. The 400 kilometer long terraformer hanging back was nothing to sneeze at either. The bulbous gold of the colony ship was contrasted by the sleek, and deadly design of the silvery dreadnought and cruisers, which all clearly bristled with massive cannons. The terra former and destroyers were all the same, with a boxy design that was standard on most smaller Empire ships. With a colorful mix of ships it was a true Frankenstein's fleet.

"Warning, Captain: terraformer class vessel appears to be gathering energy for a Gamma Ray Burst targeted at Earth." Said Jax, mild distress in the AI's voice.

Sure enough, a faint white glow could be seen near the front of the ship, even from this distance.

"Jax."

"Yes sir?"

"Broadcast to Papa-Gold-Delta code: 0. And call all available ships in the area."

The glow around the terraformer increased, until all at once a massive beam of energy exploded silently from the front, tearing off towards the planet below. The gamma radiation would be more than enough to kill them all.

The choice was never really a choice at all.

He stood silently as thousands of objects suddenly dropped out of slip-space. Around the planet, 100km long railgun stations and shield generators appeared silently.

"Planetary defense grid active. Orders sir?"

"Activate the shield, Jax."

Before the words had even left his mouth, Amicus watched as the hexagonal shields spread out from each station, forming a protective cocoon around the planet.

The Gamma Ray Burst splashed off the shield harmlessly, only slightly discoloring the otherwise clear shield sectional.

Amicus would always have protected his creations, those he thought of as his _children._

The ships Amicus had called had dropped out of slip-space and surrounded the now seemingly tiny Remnants Fleet. A hodgepodge of military, mining, and science ships similar to _The Temperate Lands_ surrounded the enemy in a loose semicircle. The thousands of AI-controlled ships ranged in size from a car, to something that rivaled even the Remnant Dreadnought."

"All units, target the trespassers."

All at once, every single canon, from the massive railguns, to the smallest ion blasters, targeted the last bastion of the human race.

"Fire."

At once every single gun fired upon the now pathetic collection of ships. The vibrations of The _Temperate Land's_ relatively small guns were nothing compared to the boom of the railgun stations just below, throwing their massive projectiles at near the speed of light, through armor and shielding like a rock through wet tissue paper.

Amicus counted to ten in his head, though that was perhaps a bit too long. It was over in seconds. The small fleet of twelve ships were quickly torn to shreds. All that remained after the hail of fire to mark them as have ever been there was a cloud of tiny debris. Amicus opened his eyes and gazed at the cloud of material, his face unreadable.

Just because it had to happen, didn't mean he was okay with it.

"Jax, please salvage what is left of the wrecks. Do not leave any trace. I am going to lie down." Amicus spoke in more of a monotone than Jax had ever heard.

"I'll get right on it sir… Are you alright Amicus?" Jax questioned the silent man.

"No, no I am not Jax." Amicus said slowly. Taking out his earpiece, and throwing it to the ground, he shuffled off the bridge, through the long, empty hallways, all the way to his bed chambers, where he collapsed onto his bed and passed out immediately, completely spent from the ordeals of just the past 10 minutes.

'You did it for them.' Was his final thought before drifting off to a blessedly dreamless sleep.

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 **{Author's Note}**

 **I'd like to thank the following people for all their help with this so far, please go take a look at their stories if you have a chance!**

 **jettmanas**

 **Lukahlyo**

 **Someone I'll just call Gomez pending further communication**

 **And one of my teachers who I'll call Mr. D (ha)**

 **Without these guys this story would be so much less than it already is becoming! Give them a round of applause!**

 **Wew! That was probably a bit of a ride considering how bad I am at accurately portraying characters and emotions, but I hope I got the general feel of it across.**

 **Yes, I do know this is not Zootopia, yet. We will get there, probably next chapter, if not, then the next for sure.  
**

 **(But really please review this as hard as you can, I need feedback since everyone just says "Oh yeah that sounds fine sure sure cool good thx buddy" which is useless. )**

 **Till next time lovelies.**


	2. Chapter 2

**(Chapter1 was heavily edited if you did not see)**

 **Alrighty, sorry about the wait on this. I spent the last month writing, deleting, and editing this to try and get it to somewhere I was okay with it. At one point this chapter was 12000 words long. (which I have since decided to chop up into other chapters) I've deleted probably about that much from this chapter alone but I'm done worrying about it for now and hopefully you'll all enjoy what is here.**

 **Any reviews are welcome, I'm specifically looking for whether or not Nick/Judy are portrayed well and in character, as this is my first time writing them. Grammar and spelling will be worked on this weekend if I can.**

 **Lastly this is unedited as you can probably tell. Anyone who would like to help edit pm me and I'll love you forever.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Judy Hopps crept up on the police cruiser she shared with her friend and partner, Nick Wilde. Yesterday had been his first day on the force, officially anyways. He acted wide awake, and she dare say, excited to get out and make the world a better place. His words, not hers, really.

They had done very well their first day, after all, they had been assigned to a regularly quiet part of downtown to help ease Nick into everything. Even so, they caught a street racer and Nick's friend, Flash. They had let him off with a warning due to his clean driving record, and the fact that he was one of Nick's few friends. Not that Judy would ever admit that.

But now today, Nick seemed to do a complete one-eighty. He shambled into work just a few minutes before roll-call, and looked like he had just clawed his way out of a grave. While he was talkative and his usual sarcastic self just the other day, this morning she could barely get a mumbled hello from him.

And now, he was sleeping on the job.

'Time for some payback for all the times he's called me cute!' Judy thought, a familiar foxy grin forming on her face.

Judy silently as she could, crept up and opened the driver's side door, knowing that a fox's hearing could rival even her own. She carefully, with her one free paw, opened the door, jumping in and slamming the door.

Judy savored the jump from the fox, her grin nearly splitting her face at finally getting one over the tod.

"What's the matter sleepy fox? Didn't get your beauty rest last night?" Judy said, handing over an oversized Snarlbucks coffee. "One Zootopian style coffee, black, three shots of espresso, and four sugar for you!"

Though dim, the blue light given off by the police scanner and other equipment was enough to see by.

"Thanks carrots, I don't know what I'd do without ya." Nick said with a yawn, a stretch, and a sleepy smile directed at the grey doe as he took the offered caffeine. "I'm surprised you knew my favorite coffee." Nick said, as he sniffed at cup.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The bunny said, lowering her tea to the cupholder.

"Oh nothin fluff, just touched that you'd care so much about your foxy partner." Nick said, moving his free paw to his chest for dramatic effect, and taking a sip from his coffee. "Oooooh yeah, that's nice." The fox groaned, slouching back into the seat of the cruiser.

Judy tried for a moment to look angry, but couldn't hold in the small giggle at the fox's antics.

"Please Nick, it's too early for this." She said trying to poke at the fox, who danced out of the way.

"For what? I'm just touched my dumb bunny knows me so well." Nick said, wiping a fake tear from his eye, and taking a long drink from his coffee.

"Oh shush you… and you're the dumb one, fox." Judy said, sticking her tongue out at the tod.

They stared at each other, trying to look serious, before settling into a giggle fit at their antics.

"You've been bringing me my favorite tea the last couple days," She took a drink, giving a happy hum at the taste. " So, I took the receipt out of your pocket last week to see how much I owed you."

"Carrots, you don't owe m-"

"But what I want to know, is how you know that _my_ favorite drin-

"Is a green tea, two pumps of lemon, two pumps of honey, one cream, and two ice cubes?" Nick said, grinning at the slightly stunned look on Judy's face. "I have my sources fluff."

He took a gulp of his coffee, and turned to the now frustrated, but smiling bunny. "And really, you don't owe me; it's my treat."

"Hmph…" Judy huffed, slightly miffed at Nick's secretiveness over something so silly, "Was it Fangmeyer?"

"Nope." Another sip at his coffee, grin becoming even wider.

"Francine?"

"Nope."

"Clawhauser?"

Nick just took another sip of his now dwindling coffee supply, and looked away from his partner. He tried, and failed, to hold back a smile as her face lit up in triumph at winning their impromptu game.

"Bingo! another case solved, detective fluff." Nick's smile only grew at the small amount of glee in the face of his partner.

"Not that I'm not glad that you're making friends, but when did you even talk to him? It seems like you're always with me." Judy said, a bit of a puzzled look coming over her face.

"Weeellll… Remember my first day?" Nick said, ears folding back slightly, and looked out into the dark street around them.

The more time Judy spent with Nick, the more she could see his tells, as few as they were. They were very hard to spot but she was getting quite good, a tail flick there, a change in posture here, and once in awhile a small shift in his ears would help her see how he was truly feeling, despite the mask he wore.

"Yeah, yesterday I believe?" Judy said with a teasing laugh.

"I kinda couldn't sleep, and I showed up almost an hour early. I offered to make a donut run if he told me what you liked." Nick said, eyeing the nearly empty coffee with an almost sad expression before setting it down.

"So why are you a zombie fox today?" Judy asked looking back up at the tod, his posture stiffening slightly.

"As you might be aware carrots, we fox are nocturnal, it took me just about every ounce willpower I had to drag my fluffy tail into the shower this morning." Nick said, "It'll just take some getting use to, don't worry 'bout it fluff."

Judy couldn't help but easily spot the lie from the tod, even after spending the last six months mostly away from him. But decided to let it go. If there was one thing she knew for certain, it was that pushing him further would only make him close up more.

"I actually spent a lot of time in the precinct the last six months, and got to be pretty good friends with Ben." Judy said, looking away from the fox, out onto the darkened street.

"Why's that? Did Chief Buffalo-Butt keep you on desk duty even after all that we went through with the missing mammals case?" Nick said, actually letting a bit of heat leak into his voice.

"No no, that's not it… It's actually my fault, really." Judy said hoping to placate the tod.

"What could you have possibly done to have Bogo put you on desk duty for six months?" Nick said with a confused expression. He began reaching for his coffee before stopping himself.

"Weeellll…" Judy said, ears dropping behind her head slightly, mirroring the fox's earlier actions.

"I kinda didn't really work well with the temp partners I was given. They all said I was a little bossy, or too hot-headed… so Bogo couldn't really give me anything ! I actually did have to learn a lot of stuff around the precinct!" Judy said, the words spilling out a little too quickly to keep up the casual face she was putting on.

"What could Supercop Judy Hopps, need to be taught about being an officer?" Nick said his smug tone and mask of a grin back.

" It wasn't so much learning new things, as gaining experience. Fake interrogations at the academy can only prep you so much for the real deal." Judy said, her own upbeat attitude showing through.

"And, the general procedure for rookies is that they would get partnered with a senior officer to learn to ropes." Judy said.

" So that's why I've got a cute fuzzy wu- OW!" Nick started to say in a sweet tone, before a punch from Judy landed in his side.

"That hurt you know." Nick said, rubbing the already forming bruise.

"And I've told you at least a thousand times not to call me cute." Judy said looking far to smug.

"Alright, alright… Is that why I have this, _beautiful, strong,_ bunny as my partner?" The fox's own look smirk came back full force at the blushing doe in front of him.

Judy took a moment to collect herself from the unexpected flirting, swallowing once hoping to hide how much it had actually affected her.

"Y-you're not so bad yourself slick, you know that?" Judy said.

'Drat. Well he'll probably think I'm just an emotional bunny there's no way he could have figured it out.' Judy thought, just a bit of desperation slipping through.

"Wow fluff, pretty soon we'll have you flirting with the best of them! How will the bucks resist your charms?" Nick said, feeling a small twinge of his own, deep in his gut at the thought of Judy with another buck.

Nick got another punch in the side from the joke.

"Ow… carrots that was mean." Nick said with a slight whine.

"No! Nick I wasn't flirting! I was trying to be serious. Y-you did just about as good as I did in the academy, you even broke a few of my records!"

"Whatever you have to tell yourself, _I know_ I'm _irresistible_ an-OW!"

The hardest punch yet landed in the fox's side.

"Careful, your head might get so big it won't fit in the car." Judy said darkly, first still held up threateningly.

Nick rubbed at his now definitely bruised side, before leaning in close to Judy's face.

"Okay okay ha… I'm sorry, I'll behave."

You better… dumb fox." Judy grumbled a bit, successfully hiding what was left of her blush by tucking her ears back.

"Oh come on, you know you love me fluff." Nick said casually, finally losing the bit of self restraint keeping his coffee safe, and tossing the rest back down his muzzle.

"Do I know that?" Judy said, trying to look defiant, hoping to regain some dignity.

Nick glanced at her over the coffee cup, a small amount of apprehension hidden in his eyes.

"... yeah, yeah I do" A small sigh escaped the doe as her defiance crumbled, blush still hidden.

'That's the problem, fox!' Judy thought.

Nick set the cup down, before looking off into the darkened street. But not before Judy caught a small genuine smile on his face.

"So slick, see anything out there with your amazing fox night vision?" Judy asked. Deciding not to needle him for it, glad he was letting her see even a little bit of his true feelings. No matter how small it was.

" Well, the most movement I've seen so far was a wrapper blowing around in that alley over there," Nick said pointing down the sidestreet Judy could just make out in the early morning darkness. "So I'm gonna say no. Seems every sane mammal is still asleep."

The saturday morning was certainly a sleepy one, just a handful of cars had gone by in the half hour they had been sitting there, and even the racoon at the Snarlbucks had looked half asleep.

"Not everyone can have your limitless energy you know, fluff."

"I grew up on a farm, it was be a morning bunny, or become one."

"Well, I still don't think it's natural to have this much energy this early."

"Better get used to it slick. We've got the morning 7-3 shift the next couple months, at least."

"Ugh, I'm gonna die having to get up so early every day."

"Nah, I'll make you a morning fox yet."

"Oh god, end me now."

Judy cackled at this, unable to hold back at the over dramatic fox reaching up towards the sky. Shielding his face with one paw

"Are you sure you were a hustler and not an actor slick?"

"Acting is at least half the hustle fluff."

Nick trying to defend his acting skills sent Judy into another fit of giggles.

"Geeze fluff, you are giggly this morning. Did you sneak some booze when you went out to get coffee?" Nick said, mimicking a parental tone.

Nick managed to dodge this punch, saving himself some trauma, and gave a snicker of his own.

" Of course not! I don't even drink!" Judy defended vehemently. Still smiling at the equally happy fox.

" I don't know really… I guess, I guess I'm just happy, you're finally out of the academy, we are finally partners… we are going to be the best team this cities ever seen!" Judy said, her face lit up in excitement now.

Nick's own face softened a tad at the sight of the excited doe. "It nice to see you're so excited over having to spend so much time with this old fox, I'll do my best not to bore you to death."

"Shouldn't that be my line?"

"Nah, honestly I haven't really just hung out with someone that often outside of work, " Nick said, creating air quotes around work.

"Really? Why's that?"

"Hustles take a lot more effort than you'd think to pull off, fluff. And all Finnick ever wants to do is drink so, I'm mostly just a baby sitter for a tiny drunk fox full of rage."

"Don't tell him I said this, but I still think he was adorable in that elephant costume."

"If you liked that, you should have seen the giraffe version we were running for a few weeks back."

"Oh. My. Gosh. You're kidding! Do you have pictures?!"

"Woah, I value my life, thank you carrots."

Judy started laughing once again, Nick just sat back and looked pleased at causing the bunny to break into another giggle fit.

After calming back down, they settled into a companionable silence, just enjoying one another's company. Judy herself was in a great mood, and though he didn't show it, she could tell Nick was pretty happy himself if she was judging the slight upturn of his lips and the _very_ small back and forth movement of his tucked away tail. Judy decided that now was the time to take a chance.

"Uhm Nick? Speaking of spending more time together, would you by any chance want to catch a movie after work? There's this new movie with Terry Horn, you know, the moose? Coming out that I wanted to see, but I didn't have anyone to go with and I didn'twanttogo-"

"Okay Okay Fluff slow down! It's okay! I'd love to go to a movie with you. What time did you say we got off at?"

Judy blinked once at his easy acceptance.

"Uh, three."

"Well looks like we've got a bit of time then." Nick said, looking at the clock which had just turned over to seven thirty-two.

They sat in a companionable silence as each retreated into their own thoughts.

'YESSSSSS' Judy was cheering and screaming in her mind.

To say she was was very pleased at how her spontaneous attempt to ask Nick on a not a date would be a major understatement. Though she may have completely ignored how she had started to ramble. Or how nervous she now was for tonight now.

Realizing she had been quiet for some time now, she turned back to Nick.

" Sooooo… I didn't know you drank." Judy said.

"Oh me? Hell no I just watch Finnick get drunk." Nick responded.

"Really? Why's that?"

Nick eyed the now empty coffee, as if wishing it would magically refill, taking a moment before responding.

"I just hate the idea of not being in control of myself, I guess." Nick said quietly.

"If you want to talk about it… I'm here. you know that right?"

"Thanks Judy." Nick said with a sad smile before flipping out his aviators from his pocket, and placing them on his face.

Both sat in silence as time ticked by, the sky had began to turn a mix of pastel blues and pinks, signalling the sun would be rising soon. Judy, finally able to see, gazed down the large hill they were parked on.

The rising sun revealed to Judy almost the entirety of Savanna Central, one of the few parts of the city that did in fact sleep.

This part of town was both the oldest and least busy, though in recent years development had picked up to keep pace with the ever increasing needs of the city. This resulted in an interesting mix of buildings. Hundred year old brick and mortar building mixed in with newer glass and metal buildings, and everything inbetween. Add in the fact that each held their own unique organic designs, and no two buildings looked the same.

Sprinkle in a hefty dose of trees, flowers, and other shrubbery and you get one of the uniquely chaotic spaces within the city, following no single theme unlike the rest of the districts.

Another result of having no large skyscrapers, was that on cloudless mornings like these, the sunrise was beautiful.

"Isn't this view great Nick?" Judy said

After a moment of silence from the tod, she looked over only to see him staring out his window, off into the sky.

"Nick?"

"H-hey carrots? A-are you seeing this too? Or did you slip something in my coffee?" Nick's usually calm and collected tone was replaced with...fear? Or unease at the least.

Judy jumped over the middle console and stood on the seat, between Nick's legs, and peered out the window to find out what had shaken the fox so much.

She looked into the light blue morning sky and almost instantly found what had caused his distress.

"Uh yeah… I think I see it." Judy said. "What is it?"

"I don't know… Some kind of creepy kite?" Nick tried to reason.

"I-I don't think so. Look it's too steady, a kite would be all over the place." Judy said growing more confused by the second.

"...It's almost like the sky grew an eye, heh." Nick said, his attempt at humor falling flat.

Their inspection of the eye in the sky was interrupted with the appearance of twelve more odd objects just barely visible, with one being much larger than even the eye.

"Alright, I'm calling this in," Judy said, reaching back over for the radio.

Suddenly, an intense white light forced Judy to shield her eyes.

"Ah! what the heck is that!?" Judy said trying to open her eyes and see what was causing the blinding light.

"I don't know," Nick said, before pulling Judy back into his lap, and putting his arms around her. "But I don't think we'll need to worry about much here in a few seconds."

His resigned tone was what told her this was serious.

"Oh." Judy said, eyes still closed, she turned in the tod's grip to embrace him.

"I don't want to die." She murmured into his uniform.

His only response was to hug her tighter to himself. As if that would protect them.

The light had grown so intense that Nick could no longer watch the approaching second sun. Choosing to instead close his eyes, and nestle his muzzle between Judy's ears. Both trying to find comfort in what might be their last moments together.

The light had reached impossibly intense levels, bleaching everything in a stark white.

And suddenly, the intense light was gone, as if it had never been there. They both slowly opened their eyes. Just to see the sky had turned a slight blue green, and massive metallic pillars dotted the sky all the way across the horizon, and the twelve odd object were completely surrounded by thousands more objects.

Almost as one, the pillars rocked backwards, as though stuck with enormous force from some unseen entity. Explosions engulfed the twelve objects completely obscuring them from view.

Then, the sound hit. The sound of a hundred thunderstorms condensed into one, magnified roar.

Nick and Judy both held onto each other for dear life as the sound rattled them, the car, and even the buildings around them; their ears plastered against their heads in an effort to defend against the sound.

Just when the sound was becoming too much to handle, everything stopped. An eerie silence following the cacophony.

Shifting off one another they both gathered at the window to see each one of the thousands of spacecraft as they both now unconsciously dubbed them, blink away. Until just a few small ships remained, traveling within a cloud what must've been the remains of the twelve large object.

The radio suddenly crackled to life.

"All units, please respond."

Both Judy and Nick were still in shock and just simply stared slack jawed and the now nearly empty sky.

"All units, _please_ respond."

Nick and Judy both looked directly at each other, the shock of what had just happened clear on the both of them.

So naturally, they both started laughing.

Tears beading at the edge of their eyes. Both returned to clinging to one another like their lives depended on it. Just glad to have survived such a strange thing.

Aliens had come to Zootopia.

"...what THE CUTE FLUFFY CRACKERS JUST HAPPENED?!" Judy yelled, finally breaking out of her shock.

"I don't know for sure, but…. ALIENS FLUFF! ALIENS ARE REAL!" Nick shouted in excitement, his fear from earlier completely gone. " I mean they fired a giant death beam at us, but ALIENS!"

Nick's face was sporting a huge grin as he looked at Judy, his tail madly thumping in the seat behind him.

"Nick how can you be excited about this we just almost died! And what if they are here to invade like in all of those movies!"

"Well why would they stop the death beam if they just wanted to invade us?"

"Uh, maybe to eat us!?"

"Wilde! Hopps! You had better get your tails on this radio THIS MINUTE or I'll have you on parking duty for THE NEXT MONTH!" A voice blared from the police scanner.

Judy scrambled over to the police scanner and grabbed the hanging mic.

"Chief Bogo! Sorry sir, Nick and I were just a little shaken up by the, uh, aliens sir."

"Don't care. The mayor has called a press conference at town hall, and he wants you two there. It starts in thirty minutes. Be there. Bogo over and out." The Chief said, voice as intimidating as ever, even over the radio.

Judy glanced over at Nick, who was still smiling like an idiot. "Ready for a press conference Slick?"

"Born ready carrots." Nick said, though Judy just managed to catch the hitch in his voice.

* * *

 **Feel free to pm me any questions, or just drop a review and I'll try and respond.**

 **Basically the main problem I was running into with this chapter was "is it okay to do so and so, will this read badly, etc etc" but from now on I'm just gonna go for it, and change it as needed.**

 **Thanks! Till next time everyone!**


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